Manager, Commercial Deal Desk and Proposals

Aptia Group

About The Position

About Aptia Founded to shape the future of pensions, health, and insurance solutions, Aptia is a leading professional services firm dedicated to simplifying complexity for businesses and individuals. We bring together cutting-edge technology and deep industry expertise to help organisations navigate an evolving landscape with clarity and confidence. With a presence in the US, UK, India, and Portugal, we support over six million people and more than 1,100 clients, delivering solutions that drive efficiency, enhance financial security, and provide peace of mind. Our strength lies in the combination of smart technology and expert teams, ensuring that managing pensions, health, and insurance is more effective. By focusing on innovation, accessibility, and client success, we help businesses take care of their people, so they can focus on what they do best. And we are expanding. Aptia Group is not only fueled by our investors' backing but also by our commitment to foster the growth and success of our people. At Aptia, we're investing heavily in learning and development, paving unique career paths for our colleagues. Specialist. Responsive. Thoughtful. Our values aren't just words; they are the backbone of our business. Our team embodies our values daily, to surpass client expectations, evolve constantly and nurture genuine relationships for the long-term. Job requirements The Deal Desk & RFP Manager serves as the central point of accountability for complex commercial deals, overseeing proposal execution, pricing governance, and legal/commercial risk management. This role partners closely with Sales, Legal, Finance, Product, and Operations to ensure deals are structured, approved, and executed in a way that balances revenue growth, speed, and risk. This individual owns the end-to-end lifecycle of RFPs, RFIs, and non-standard deals—from intake and strategy through proposal submission, contracting alignment, and approval—ensuring commercial rigor and consistency across the sales organization.

Requirements

5+ years of experience in Deal Desk, RFP/Proposal Management, Commercial Operations, or Sales Operations.
Strong understanding of pricing models, commercial contracts, and enterprise deal structures.
Proven ability to manage cross-functional stakeholders and competing deadlines.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with strong attention to detail.
Comfort operating in fast-paced, high-accountability commercial environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience in SaaS, benefits administration, HR technology, or regulated industries.
Hands-on experience with RFP Tools (Loopio) and CPQ, CRM (e.g., Dynamics), and CLM tools.
Prior exposure to enterprise or mid-market sales cycles.
Experience supporting executive-level deal reviews and approvals.

Responsibilities

Act as the primary Deal Desk lead for complex, non-standard, and high-value commercial opportunities.
Review deal structures, pricing models, and commercial terms to ensure alignment with company policy and financial objectives.
Drive deal approval workflows, including coordination of Legal, Finance, Product, Security, and Executive sign-off.
Identify, document, and escalate commercial and contractual risks with clear recommendations.
Own the end-to-end RFP, RFI, and proposal response process, including intake, resourcing, timelines, and final submission.
Develop deal-specific response strategies, win themes, and executive summaries aligned to sales objectives.
Ensure proposal responses accurately reflect approved pricing, solution scope, service models, and contractual positions.
Maintain proposal-to-contract continuity to reduce rework and negotiation friction.
Partner closely with Legal to manage non-standard contractual terms, redlines, and risk positions.
Ensure all proposals comply with internal policies, regulatory standards, and legal requirements.
Track deviations from standard terms and support post-submission negotiations through contract execution.
Establish and continuously improve Deal Desk and RFP processes, templates, and governance models.
Maintain a centralized content and legal response library to improve speed and consistency.
Leverage CRM, CPQ, and CLM tools to ensure deal accuracy, auditability, and reporting.
Provide guidance and enablement to Sales on deal structuring, pricing approaches, and proposal best practices.
Serve as the single source of truth for deal status, risks, and approval readiness.
Prepare executive summaries for leadership review on high-impact deals.
Deliver insights on deal trends, approval bottlenecks, and win/loss drivers to inform commercial strategy.